- Title: Israel razes Palestinian Bedouin village for second time
- Date: 3rd February 2021
- Summary: KHIRBET HUMSA, WEST BANK (FEBRUARY 3, 2021) (REUTERS) ISRAELI FORCES PUTTING APART BEDOUIN STRUCTURES BULLDOZER WORKING IN AREA BULLDOZER GETTING READY TO CARRY WATER TANKS PALESTINIAN CHILD CARRYING PALESTINIAN FLAG VARIOUS OF BEDOUINS SITTING ON THE GROUND CLOSE TO ISRAELI FORCES, WHILE CRANE IS LOADING METAL BARS ON TRUCK KHIRBET HUMSA, WEST BANK (FEBRUARY 2, 2021) (REUTERS) VIEW OF RO'I SETTLEMENT IN THE JORDAN VALLEY BEDOUIN RESIDENT IBRAHIM ABU AWAD SITTING BY RUBBLE ABU AWAD SMOKING A CIGARETTE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) BEDOUIN RESIDENT IBRAHIM ABU AWAD SAYING: "They had offered us to go with them, so that they would show us the land they want to give us, and to install the structures there, so we did not agree, they stayed waiting for us for more than two hours by the checkpoint, and then they left and took it (the structure) with them down." KHIRBET HUMSA, WEST BANK (FEBRUARY 3, 2021) (REUTERS) WORKERS TAKING APART THE METAL STRUCTURES, ISRAELI FORCES ON SITE OLD MAN LOOKING AT DEMOLITION SITE WORKERS TAKING APART THE METAL STRUCTURES BULLDOZER WORKING IN AREA (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF THE POPULAR RESISTANCE DEPARTMENT IN 'CWRCS' (COLONIZATION AND WALL RESISTANCE COMMISSION) ABDALLAH ABU RAHMAH, SAYING: "Here specifically in Humsa Al Fouqa, for the second time in two months, where it is being completely razed and complete demolition, for a clear purpose, to evict the residents and dislocate them from their lands, that are fertile, vast, special, which is our future, and the future of the residents here." KHIRBET HUMSA, WEST BANK (FEBRUARY 2, 2021) (REUTERS) MAN SITTING ON RUBBLE LOOKING CHILDREN STANDING BY TENT SHEEP ON THE MEADOW WOMAN WALKING BY TENT WOMAN COVERING POSSESSION WITH PLASTIC TEDDY BEAR ON THE GROUND WOMAN COVERING POSSESSION WITH PLASTIC WOMAN WITH CHILDREN IN THE CARRYING BUCKET
- Embargoed: 17th February 2021 13:51
- Keywords: Demolition Humsa Jordan Valley West Bank eviction
- Location: KHIRBET HUMSA, WEST BANK
- City: KHIRBET HUMSA, WEST BANK
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Middle East
- Reuters ID: LVA001DY3BHHJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Israel has begun demolishing a Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday (February 3) for the second time in three months, in what a rights group called an attempt to displace an entire Palestinian community from the area.
Israeli authorities said the village of Khirbet Humsah, in the northern West Bank's Jordan Valley, had been constructed illegally on a military firing range, and that residents had rejected their offer to move to a nearby area.
Khirbet Humsah's 130 inhabitants have vowed to stay, with some sleeping on mattresses and plastic tarps strewn on the rocky soil. Tented homes and animal shelters in the village were last razed in November, though residents returned soon after.
"We will not move from here, we will stay here. If they demolish, we will rebuild," said one of the residents, Ibrahim Abu Awad. He and other Bedouin in the village said they feared Israeli settlers would seize the vacated land.
The Israeli rights group B'Tselem said the demolition at Khirbet Humsah was "unusually broad", accusing Israel of seeking "to forcibly transfer Palestinian communities in order to take over their land".
Some 440,000 Israeli settlers live among more than 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank, territory captured by Israel in a 1967 war and which Palestinians want as part of a future state.
Israeli forces began dismantling tents and livestock pens in Khirbet Humsah on Monday, residents and B'Tselem said. On Wednesday, Israeli troops accompanied by bulldozers also knocked down several steel and wooden structures in the village, Reuters TV footage showed.
The dismantled tents had housed 74 Palestinians, including 41 minors, B'Tselem said in a statement.
COGAT, Israel's military liaison to the Palestinians, said it had explained to residents "the dangers involved in staying within the firing range" and offered them space outside of it.
"Despite the offer, the residents refused to independently move the tent areas that had been set up illegally and without the required permits and approvals," COGAT said.
Palestinians and rights group say such permits are nearly impossible to obtain from Israel.
(Production: Adel abu Nemeh, Raneen Sawafta, Nuha Sharaf) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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